At least the Giants do not have to face the Padres again until, wait, what? Monday in San Diego? Oh, good lord.

The faithful now have the weekend to chew on whether the Padres are that good or the Giants that bad, though the results seem to leave no doubt which is the alpha team. San Diego swept the Giants at home last month and completed another sweep in San Francisco on Thursday.

The Padres even accomplished the sweeps by the same scores in the same order: 3-2, 5-2 and 1-0. It's like they are calling their shots.

If the rotations hold, Sanchez will draw Latos again Tuesday night to conclude what mercifully for the Giants is a two-game series.

"I've been pitching great against those guys, but I have no luck to beat them," Sanchez said. "Hopefully it won't be the third time they're going to beat me."

Latos' one-hitter was his first career complete game. And get this: The Padres scout who signed him, Joe Bochy, is Giants manager Bruce Bochy's brother.

"No way," first baseman Aubrey Huff said, before assessing this one-sided relationship between these teams.

"It's seems like they've got our number," Huff said. "I wouldn't say I'm glad to see them gone. We've got a lot more games against them. It's still early in the season. It's too early in the season to talk about playoff implications."

Nevertheless, the Giants are digging a hole by their complete impotence against San Diego. They have fallen to a season-worst 3 1/2 games behind the Padres in the National League West.

The Giants are adrift, 11-13 following a 7-2 start that raised a city's hopes and expectations. They are not whole, with uncertainty over Mark DeRosa, Edgar Renteria on the disabled list and Freddy Sanchez still rehabbing his shoulder. There is little they can do immediately short of taking a flyer on a Jermaine Dye or promoting Buster Posey in hopes of a spark.

Bochy, who met with general manager Brian Sabean after the game to discuss potential moves, dodged the Posey question, saying, "I'll say this. I know Buster is playing fairly well down there. Right now, this is the group of guys we have. We're banged up. We were missing some right-handed bats in this series."

Thursday's loss was easy to analyze. Sanchez allowed a two-out double in the fifth inning to second baseman Lance Zawadzki and the RBI single by Latos. Game over.

The Giants hit a few scorching outs but still came within a whisper of 27 up, 27 down. Whiteside led off the sixth with a comebacker, not particularly hard, that Latos deflected toward third baseman Chase Headley, whose throw to first was late.

"I shouldn't have tried to glove that," Latos said. "I should have just tried to knock it down and throw him out. ... Whiteside's a catcher. He's not really that quick of a runner. If I knock the ball down, I have a chance of throwing him out."